Half A Decade Later
by EternalEquality
Summary: They say love brings out a side in a person no one knew existed. It brings out the cheesy, mushy, sometimes angry, side of a person. It creates, sometimes, a whole knew human being, literally, in Gabriella Montez's case. Conceiving a child the Summer after high school wasn't expected from a girl like her, then again, neither was befriending the father. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: Five**

The blue eyed boy smiled up at his mother, his dark honey coloured hair covering his eyes, flicked to a side. His little white baby teeth permanently showing at the time out of pure joy and happiness, as he clapped his little hands together in delight and grinned. His baby blue eyes shining with glee and danced with enthusiasm, as his soft features glowed.

"Baby, not yet. It's only six in the morning" his mother told him softly, her voice muffled by the pillow she was sleeping on. Her dark chocolate coloured locks spread across the pillow, her deep hazel eyes just opened enough so she could see what her son was doing. He sat on his knees, his back-side resting on the heels of his feet as he rocked back and forth.

"But Momma, it's my birthday. I'm five" the boy said proudly whilst holding up five fingers to show his mother.

"I know sweetie, believe me, I know, March the fifteenth is a very special day for me, but Momma's tired" she replied, and as if on cue, she yawned, causing the newly five year old boy to giggle as he nodded in understanding before lying down beside her and sliding into the covers, cuddling into her warm body as she wrapped an arm around his body.

They lay in silence for a moment, the mother and her son, before the doorbell to the apartment rang clearly through the silent home of the two. It rang once, twice, thrice. The lady looked at her son with an identical face. Both were now grinning, both knowing who was at the door, both quickly jumping out of bed and running to answer.

The women opened the door to reveal a five foot five blonde. Her hair was curled slightly and her make up was light, yet nice. She looked stunning, with an amazing tan and amazing body. She wore a mustard pleated skirt that came a few inches above her knee, showing off her long California-tanned legs. The blonde also wore a plain white tank with a cropped black leather jacket with three quarter sleeves. Finishing off the look with white ballet pumps with black toes.

"You look amazing" the brunette said smiling softly at her childhood best friend who walked slowly into the apartment.

"Thanks babe, you look amazing too. Even if you are just wearing sweatpants and a tank. You look amazing in everything" the blonde replied, putting her black and white Prada bag on the coffee table in the lounge she had just walked in to, before slipping of her shoes and sitting on the couch with her feet up.

The brunette smiled, "Thanks Shar" she said before sitting next to her best friend.

"Where's your little birthday boy?" Sharpay, the blonde, asked grinning, "I got his presents!" she exclaimed excitedly as the brunette chuckled,

"You sound more excited that he is. Where he is? I'm not entirely sure, he was right beside me when I opened the door for you. He probably took one look at you, was intimidated by your beauty and went away to hide" the brunette said laughing before calling out to her son, "Samuel, Baby! Come here! Auntie Shar wants to see you!" she called out before the two ladies heard the pitter-patter of his, Samuel's, tiny feet as he entered the sitting room/lounge area with a huge smile on his face.

"Auntie Shar!" he exclaimed, running to her and jumping into her open arms as the two hugged eachother tightly.

Sharpay grinned and looked at the smiling brunette, "Gab, your little boy is growing up" she said, putting Samuel down.

"Yeah Momma, I'm grown up! I'm five!" he said, again putting up his five fingers.

Gabriella Montez giggled her cute honey-sweet giggle as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her brown, dark hazel, really, eyes shone with pride as her son played around with his godmother's blonde locks while Sharpay played with him.

"I'm going to get changed" she announced before getting up and heading towards the huge master bedroom.

The apartment wasn't small. No way. It had a huge en-suite master bedroom which contained a average sized walk-in wardrobe, a king sized bed, a vanity desk, a chest of drawers and a bookcase, along with a set of French doors leading to a balcony. This room was Gabriella's, of course. Then there was Samuel's bedroom, a single bed, a closet, chest of drawers and desk. Simple, but which five year old needed more than that, as long as the walls were painted blue, any boy who as five would be happy.

Alongside that, was the large sitting room, a just a little bigger than average sized kitchen, a dining room and a bathroom.

Gabriella walked into her walk-in closet and sighed, running a hand through her morning hair. Her brown eyes scanning the closet as she walked past rows of clothing before choosing an outfit suitable for her son's birthday. White skinny jeans, bottle green ruffled tank top and a white denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up a quarter. She left the closet and crossed the room to enter the en-suite bathroom on the other side. Gabriella took her usual morning shower and got dressed quickly, with a particular reason as to why, she then headed back to her closet and walked in to the far right hand corner and crouched down. Her arm extended as she reached out to touch her memory box. Grabbing it gently, she pulled it out and ran her fingers over it. Every year on her birthday, Samuel's birthday and a certain someone else's birthday, she took the box out and looked through the reminiscences, and every year she'd cry for an hour before going back to her normal state.

Her dainty hands lifted the wood lid to the box and put it down beside her gently. She stared into the box, tears filling her eyes.

Gabriella picked up a small A5 sized photo album, the cover was a picture of two teenagers. One of the two with wavy brown hair, her, sitting on a swing attached to a stable tree branch. The other teenager was a boy the same age, crouching down in front of her and sliming up at her as she smiled down at him. Gabriella was about to open the album when a voice came from the entrance to the closet.

"Don't" came Sharpay's firm voice, before she left out a sad sigh, and her voice softened completely, "Please don't open it Gab, you'll cry. Sam is already worried about you" the blonde said to the Latina brunette, who merely nodded before putting everything back in its place.

"For my son" Gabriella said nodding,

"For your son" Sharpay agreed.

An hour and a half later, at around eight 'o' clock, give or take a few minutes, the threesome where gathered around the kitchen island eating chocolate chip pancakes and fresh strawberries.

"Thanks Momma" Samuel said to his mother, yet not bothering to look up from his food, in which he seemed very intrigued in.

"You're welcome Baby" Gabriella replied ruffling his hair.

Samuel was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black and blue plaid shirt, which bought out his eyes, and a pair of black toddler original Chuck Taylor Converses. He looked cute, not a glimpse of doubt towards that fact.

"Gab, what time are we heading towards your mom's?" Sharpay asked, cutting a triangle out of her chocolate chip pancake and putting it in her mouth.

"Umm... elevenish, maybe" Gabriella replied, chewing her own breakfast before taking a sip of her coffee, and pulling her phone out to call her mom.

At eleven 'o' clock, on the dot, Gabriella, Sharpay and Samuel, exited the black Mercedes with a personalized number plate that read "5H4RP4Y," hand in hand, mother and son, with best friend hot on their heels, headed to the black door of the big house.

Gabriella got her keys out of her white bag and unlocked the door to her mom's house, to be met by a loud...

"Samuel! My baby girl's baby boy is five! FIVE!" her mom's loud voice echoed across the house as she ran towards her grandson, daughter and her daughter's best friend. She pulled the blue eyed boy into a huge bear hug, and held onto him as if for dear life.

"Grandma Maria, too tight" he said, smiling. Maria Montez smiled at her grandson, he was too cute.

"So sorry Sammy, happy birthday baby" she said, kissing his smooth forehead, "let's go watch TV, okay baby?" Maria asked, taking his small hand and leading him to the sitting room where the news was on.

"Breaking news," the TV news presenter said, her face straight, "Los Angeles Lakers player, number fourteen, Troy Bolton, had been majorly injured during a game last night, sources say during half time, he was practicing hoops off court and was attacked..." Maria quickly changed the channel and looked towards her daughter, whose hand was covering her mouth and her usually tanned face was as pale as a ghost. Gabriella started breathing hard and fast breaths. After about two seconds of breathing like that, she collapsed, not fainted, just collapsed, into a heap on the floor. By now, tears were streaming down the brunette's pale face, that now had red cheeks.

"Gab, honey, you have to calm down" Sharpay said crouching down and rubbing her friends back, trying to hold back tears herself at the site of her best friend suffering like that.

"I c-c-can't, it's my son's birthday, he's all grown up n-now and my ex-boyfriend, who, the last time I saw him was five years ago, is f-f-f-freaking in hospital and is always on T-TV. I can't do it!" Gabriella cried from the floor, before sitting up suddenly, wiping the tears from her face and standing up, "Where's Sam?" she asked, her brown eyes scanning the room for her son.

"Gab, honey, he's gone outside. When you collapsed he got scared and I told him to go." Maria said quietly while holding her arms out. Gabriella hugged her mother tight and let the tears stream down her face again.

"_Fuck Troy Bolton, today is about my baby boy" _Gabriella thought to herself in her head.

**AN: My NEW story. I was so into writing it that it took me only two and a half hours, breaks and all. Hope you guys like it. Review pleaseeee -Amy**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: Best Friend's Wife's Best Friend**

**T**he blue eyed man grinned at his childhood best friend who stood by his hospital bed telling a stupidly funny story. His light chestnut hair with subtle, yet noticeable, highlights of honey and dark blonde, which had once been swooped to a side, but now were spiked up as if he ran his hand through it every few seconds to keep it like that. His pearly white teeth being unintentionally showed off as he continued grinning to his dark skinned afro headed friend. The man's tanned skin, though he was in a hospital due to an accident, still had that California tan glow.

"Dude, then, my mom was in the midst of making these AWESOME brownies" the dark skinned friend said as the tan one chuckled, "Before she suddenly hears 'breaking news, Troy Bolton is in hospital' and she freaked."

The two friends grinned at eachother, best friends since birth, Chad Danforth and Troy Bolton. They had been through so much trouble, laughs and even tears together. As stupid as it sounds, they were BFFL, Best Friends For Life.

Troy, the tanned one, leaned further into the hospital pillows that lay at the head of his bed. His eyelids closing half-way as he continued listening to his crazy best friend going rambling on and on.

"Oh my flipping god! Babe!" he heard someone squeal, and he could almost fell Chad tensing next to him, he opened his eyes fully to see a women with almost raven black hair. Her skin was quite pale and her manicured fingers were covering her mouth. "Baby, what happened?" she asked, pushing Chad aside and sitting on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Just some guys came bustin' me up" he said casually, "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Alicia Lucking smiled and reached out to hold her boyfriend's hand in her own, "Apart from being bombarded by the paparazzi, press and tabloids, I'm fine" she insisted.

Troy nodded, "Okay, I love you" he said to her and watched as she smiled,

"I love you too" she said kissing his cheek before standing up, "But I have to go to work now, so sorry Babe, but there has been a 'Major Crisis' in the lingerie section" she said as Troy smirked. And with that she walked away.

Troy had met Alicia probably a year back, he was twenty two, single, hot, famous and she was twenty one, also single, sexy and a fashion designer. They'd met the typical way, at a bar, in Los Angeles, on a Friday night. He ordered her a drink, she gave a number and he asked her out.

"I'm still here" Chad's voice came from where Alicia had pushed him, "And I still don't like her"

"Why?" Troy asked, bro's before ho's, not that his girl was one, but the rule still applied and Chad's opinion mattered to him, he was his best friend, his brother from another mother.

"Because she's not... You Know Who" he said and watched as Troy closed his eyes, almost as if in pain, well, in some ways he was, his heart hurt, though Alicia was mending it.

"Don't talk about _her" _he growled dangerously, he sat up quickly and turned to face Chad, though his ribs hurt from the injury, he somehow still managed to sit up straight.

"Sorry man" Chad apologised quickly, seeing the look on his best friend's face, Troy softened, and he knew he was being stupid, unreasonable and irrational, but he couldn't help it though.

"A-a-are you in touch with her?" he asked and Chad looked at him in shock before nodding slightly, "Oh" was all Troy said when he saw Chad's action.

"Do you mind?" Chad asked cautiously

"Why would I? It's my best friend's wifes's best friend, or one of them at least, the other one is Shar" Troy said smiling slightly, "I spoke to her the other day, y'know?"

Chad's eyes widened and his jaw almost dropped to the floor, "You spoke to Gabriella?"

"Noooo" Troy drew out, "I spoke to Sharpay, she kept talking about this little boy, one of her friend's son, I think his name was Sam or something like that" he said smiling. Chad's eyes widened even further and, if possible, his jaw dropped to the floor even more.

"Dude! She told you about Samuel? Have you seen him?" Chad asked urgently

"Nope, I kept asking for a photo, but she kept saying 'no'" Troy answered, his confusion evident.

"Oh, okay. You must be excited to sleep at home today" Chad said, changing the subject

"Yeah, nothing's like home"

"Dude, Albuquerque is home, not Los Angeles"

"Fine, fine, nothing's like a second home" Troy commented smirking cheekily.

...

Eyes were closed, sheets were tangled, and murmured voices were heard. The night wind blew gently, the moon shone bright and the stars were out in the cloudless sky. The huge Los Angeles mansion stood silently in the midst of it all. The owner and his girlfriend lay quietly in bed, whispering and murmuring to eachother. The owner a Los Angeles Lakers player, his girlfriend, a fashion designer for Bella's Boutique, a major fashion company.

"What's up with you?" The female asked drawing patterns on her boyfriend's bare six pack

"Nothing" he dismissed turning on his side, facing away from her. Alicia grinned,

"I think I can cheer you up" she said in a seductive voice as she swung an arm around her boyfriend's naked torso and made her way South. When she approached her destination, she stroked, only to find, after a few strokes, he wasn't being turned on by her actions as he would've been before.

"Babe? Baby? Troy!" she asked, clearly confused "Are you asleep?"

"No" came his simple response

"Then why the hell aren't you getting, y'know..." Alicia trailed off, suddenly feeling awkward

"Dunno, go to sleep Alicia, I'll see you in the morning" he said, pulling the blanket further up his chest and snuggling into it. He wasn't feeling up to anything. He just wanted to sleep

...

"BOLTON!" Came a loud voice from downstairs

"NUMBER FOURTEEN!" Another voice said

"TROY!" Came a third

Troy groaned and sat up, rubbing his tired and sleepless eyes. He looked to his left to see his sleeping girlfriend, her nearly black hair spread across her face and her pillow. He smile down at her before he heard,

"TROY BOLTON, NUMBER FOURTEEN! HOO-OOPS!" That just happened to be the voice of Chad Danforth.

"CHAD SHUT UP!" He shouted back, bastard, he thought. This shout that erupted from his throat woke the grey eyed girl on his left side. She moved onto her back from her right side and sat up.

Many guys, even if their best friends are downstairs, if they had saw the sight that Troy had seen that morning would jump at the chance of what their girlfriend was offering in the morning, especially if they looked anything like Alicia did. Her nearly black hair messy, wild and looking sexy. Her eyes glowing for no particular reason, her slender body glowing also.

"Morning" she whispered "Who's here?"

Troy shrugged his muscular shoulders and pulled the sheets back revealing his plaid pyjama bottom covered legs. He stood up slowly, stretched his body for a few minutes, to be frank, it w and exited the room.

While running down the stairs he bumped into a pale faced Chad walking towards the front door looking as sickly as a ghost.

Troy Bolton had seen Chad Danforth in many states. He had even named them. When Chad had asked Taylor Mc'Kessie to marry him, and she had said yes, his face dark-skinned complexion had glowed like the sun, his eyes shone like the moon and he was beaming from ear to ear. This was Chad's Super Happy Face. Then there was Chad's Angry Face. Where his eyes would darken immensely while shooting daggers and spears, and his cheeks would go all red and flustered. Most fortunately though, Chad's Angry Face was rarely ever used. There were so many more faces, including the one being used now. His face was pale. His eyes were wide and his pupils were light and wide also. His mouth was slightly opened and it looked as if he was having trouble breathing. His nose had a tinge of a pinkish shade of red on the tip. His bushy hair looked quite flat and he looked quite sweaty and quite clammy. Chad's Scared Forward Slash Upset Forward Slash Worried Face.

"Chad?" Troy asked, cautiously approaching his best friend from behind

"Sam is in fucking hospital, I fucking have to go. Fucking now, I'm his fucking godfather, I'm supposed to fucking prevent fucked up stuff like this. Fuck, fuck, fucking mother of fucking fuck!" he swore, he looked as if he was hyperventilating.

"Dude?" Troy asked again

"I need you to drive me to the hospital, the guys went after calling you and I happened to come here with them."

"Dude," Troy said grinning, "You didn't say fuck in that sentence"

Chad shot daggers and spears in his direction and pushed Troy on both of his shoulders. "Fucking son of a bitch" Chad's face was now a mixture of his angry face and his current face. Troy could tell by the way his face was sickly pale, he was sacred, and he was scared absolutely shitless.

"Give me two minutes, I need to go change my clothes" and with that he raced up the stairs to his bedroom.

...

Five minutes later, Chad Danforth was cursing to himself, "Stupid, stupid, stupid Danforth."

He hadn't meant to tell Troy the whereabouts of Samuel. He now found himself in the front seat of Troy's Camero, fidgeting with his fingers. He felt so stupid, he felt as if someone had but a whole bunch of stupid germs in the fire and let them multiply for millenniums and then poured all those germs into his head. Chad Stupid Danforth.

"Dude, are you okay? You look sick and really, really worried Troy mentioned taking his eyes off the road for a second to look at his best friend.

"No shit Sherlock" Chad spat back and watched as Troy rolled his eyes before the car came to a stop, "Thank fucking god! Finally!" he said. Troy chuckled and watched as Chad ran off into the building.

Should he go in or not, no he shouldn't, it wasn't his right. He wasn't the father, uncle, granddad, godfather, brother cousin, not even a friend. He was a nobody. Troy sighed and started walking towards his car.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3: Why Me?**

Gabriella was a wreck. She looked at the hospital bed by her side to see her son's usually tan skin, extremely pale. His blue eyes being covered by his eyelids. Why her? Why her son? She remembered what had happened so vividly in her mind. She could still see the images of her five year old son playing around at the top of the stairs and then seeing him trip at the top and fall down them. It was a horrific sight for any mother, yet here Gabriella sat, single, young and worried sick about her five year old fatherless son.

The minute it had happened Gabriella had broken down into sobs again. Weak at her knees, she fell and continued to weep. Minutes later the ambulance had arrived and the godfather to her child had been called. Chad Danforth was a man Gabriella would trust with both her son's life and her life forever, she had trusted him since the day she had befriended him on the first day of middle school. He was, as he put it, "Chad the Trustworthy."

"Gabs! How is he?" the dark skinned asked, clearly concerned.

"I dunno Chad; I really don't know" Gabriella whispered quietly, "The doctor's said he's just in shock, probably the reason as to why he's unconscious. I'm scared Chad, I'm so damn scared."

Chad nodded and smiled sympathetically, "I'd love to say 'I know,' but, I don't. All I can say is I'm sorry."

Gabriella nodded and stared at her son's face, being in the emotional state she was in, she burst into tears again.

In an instant he, Chad, was by her side, crouching beside the chair she was sitting in.

"Aaw Gabs! It's okay, it's all gonna be okay" he comforted, stroking her back

"No. No it isn't" she replied putting her head in her hands and carried on crying.

"Gabs. Ella, listen to me. He is gonna me okay, alright, he's a strong boy. Even if his dad is a total jerk whose ass I wanna kick. Samuel James is gonna be absolutely fine, he's a fighter. And you're gonna be fine too Gabs. You've got me, your mom, Sharpay, Taylor, Kelsi, Ryan, Zeke and so many more, Sweetie, please don't cry" he begged.

"He deserves better Chad, so much better, better than I can give him" she replied shaking,

"You care too much about what he deserves, and not enough about what he wants, and he wants you" Chad pointed out,

Gabriella stopped crying and lifted her head to reveal her swollen and bloodshot eyes still teary.

"Thank you Chad. I love you so much, you know that right?" she asked, her voice shaky

"Yeah, I do, and I love you too Gabs" he said, standing up and bending down to hug her tightly, holding her small fragile body close to his own.

Gabriella sniffed and reluctantly let go, sighing heavily. Chad smiled softly before bending down to kiss her cheek softly, before turning around and exiting the room to head to the waiting room where everyone else, everyone being Sharpay, Maria and probably Sharpay's husband Zeke.

His own wife, Taylor Danforth, formerly Mc'Kessie, was most probably in court now. She was a big shot lawyer for this huge law firm and a graduate from Harvard Law School. An independent woman was she, always sticking up for herself. He remembered the day he proposed, she had raised one eyebrow before noticing the real seriousness on his face, before smiling and simply saying yes, no "Oh my god!" or "Are you for real?" Taylor just simply wasn't like that. She, along with Sharpay and Gabriella were best friends, though all had many _many _differences, they had their girlish similarities. Hence the fact they were girls.

... ... ...

Gabriella felt, a quite frankly, looked, like shit. She looked pale, as if she hadn't eaten in a few days, which she hadn't, dehydrated, lethargic and worried sick.

Her mother, felt the same, though she didn't look like her daughter, she was also worried sick, but not only for her grandson, but for her daughter aswell.

And as she sat beside the blonde haired, brown eyes Sharpay Evans, all she could think about was the bastard that got her daughter pregnant on during one night stand. How could he? He had no idea what problems he was causing. Yet Sam was a happy mistake. She wouldn't turn back time and get rid of him; he was a blessing, a gift from the gods.

She slowly got out of one of the waiting room chairs and made her way over to the room. There sitting by her grandson was her only daughter, actually, only child altogether, staring at the floor and singing to her son softly.

"Tell them all I know now,

Shout it from the rooftops

Write it on the sky line

All we had is gone now

Tell them I was happy

And my heart is broken

All my scars are open

Tell them what..."

And then the twenty-three year old burst out into tears again, her nose turning pink at the tip and her cheeks going red alongside her already swollen eyes.

"Mija?" Maria Montez called out, Gabriella started shaking, out of cold, upset, fear and anger.

"Mami, Mom?" she said quietly, still crying, still trembling, still looking at the floor.

"Sweetie, don't cry. You've cried too many times today. It's not good for your health Hon" Maria pointed out.

"I'm worried sick Mom, literally. I'm cold because it's freezing outside now and the stupid doctors have the air conditioning on. I'm angry because as much as I know I have you guys, and as much as I hate him, I don't have that stupid bastard, also known as the father of my child, by my side, holding my hand. No, he said he didn't want the baby and left me for a blonde, even if we only did hook up once. I'm angry because this kid wasn't made from love, rather from a drunk one night stand with a guy I hooked up with at a party. I'm angry with myself for not being a proper mother, a mother he deserves. I'm scared cos my son is in a hospital bed, unconscious and he might not ever wake up, I'll never be able to hold his small hand again, look into his eyes as he talks to me, hold back my own tears when he cries, smile like a Cheshire cat when he's in an extremely good mood. I'll never be able to hear him say 'I love you' or 'Mommy' and it just breaks my heart. I don't..." she trailed off and looked up towards her mom.

"Mija, it's okay, Sam will wake up, he's a fighter." Maria said before sighing heavily,

"That's what Chad said" Gabriella whispered

"And its true Honey, better believe it baby" Maria said, emphasising the 'baby' part. Gabriella cracked a small smile and looked at her mother, "Thanks Mom" she said, gratefully.

... ... ...

"Miss Montez, Mr James is going to be fine. The results from his scan are in, and he should be up soon" Dr Jennifer Harlonson informed a tired looking Gabriella.

"He's gonna be okay?" she asked, slightly more alert now,

"He's going to be absolutely fine" Dr Harlonson said kindly, nodding her head. Before turning away and heading towards the doctors room.

Gabriella smiled widely and turned to her mom who sat beside her, "He's okay!" she squealed.

"Told you" Maria said in a sing-song know-it-all tone.

Gabriella's smile faltered slightly, and she took a deep breath "I need call him" she said quietly,

Maria sighed, "Gabriella, you don't have to call him"

"Yes. Yes I do Mom, you don't understand, I really need to talk to him, he deserves to know what happened to Sam, they are, after all, related. Blood related" she replied to Maria

"When do you wanna do it?"

"Preferably as soon as possible, he'll want to know, and then he'll come see Sam"

"Sweetie, I miss him too. But he's away now, he's busy" Maria pointed out

"You know what? I'm going to call him, now" she said, getting her iPhone out of her bag

Five minutes later Gabriella was staring at the screen of her phone, she couldn't bring herself to dial his number, it was stupid, but she just couldn't do it. But she had to. Tapping the number she waited for the man to pick up.

"Hello" the man's voice came,

"H-hi, it's me, Gabriella" she said softly

"Gabi? What's up Sweetie?" he asked, the concern and worry evident in his voice

"It's Sam, he had an accident and he's in hospital. He was unconscious for a while, he's gonna be okay though. I just thought you should know" Gabriella said quietly

"Thanks Gabi, I appreciate you telling me, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. When will you be back from your business trip?"

"Hopefully within the next two weeks, I'll try to come back sooner, but I can't make any promises. Send your mother my love, love you"

"I love you too Dad" Gabriella replied before hanging up.

Gregory Montez, her father, was a successful journalist. Very successful that he went on business trips all the time. Unfortunately, this meant he missed out on a lot of his wife's, daughter's and grandson's lives.

"What did he say?" A very Maria asked cautiously,

"He sends his love, and will be back in two weeks maximum, if not, sooner" Gabriella said biting her bottom lip and looking down at the floor.

"Are you hungry?" Maria asked

"Nah, I had a coffee and a muffin half an hour ago. And I don't have that much of an appetite"

"Okay" Maria said before getting up to get herself something to eat.

Gabriella nodded. Thirteen minutes later to be precise, Gabriella sat at her son's bedside yet again asking herself _"Why me?"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: SO SORRY IT TOOK LONG!<strong>_** I've been so busy with college! Oh! BTW, everyone, go read . 's stories, they are beyond awesome! Zac Efron is awesome, I'm stealing his hair. He is so freaking good looking! PROOF: /p/I2oRVlm81b/**

**-Amy J**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4: Meeting Up**

"**M**orning sleepy head!" Alicia's voice called from Troy's right side.

"Mmm, mornin'" he said quietly, barely moving his lips, "What time is it?"

Alicia reached for her blackberry on the bed side cabinet to check the time, "Half past eleven"

Troy nodded and gave a five minute sign and snuggled deeper into his warm, welcoming bed.

Alicia rolled her eyes and got up, grabbing a change of clothes for the day whilst walking to his en-suite bathroom to shower.

Ten minutes passed and Alicia emerged from the shower, her hair blow dried and she had curled it to perfect precision. Her slim body covered by a purple blouse and a pair of black chinos, which she had teamed with a pair of strappy high heels.

"Troy, Babe, wake up. I've got to go; I'm having lunch with Chelsea" she said, leaning forward and shaking his shoulder to awaken him for unconsciousness.

Troy mumbled a response and sat up, rubbing his eyes, "When'll you be back?" He asked, running a hand through his messed up hair.

"Three, fourish" she responded before leaning in more and placing a kiss on his stubble covered jaw, before she turned away and within a minute he heard the sound of the front door shut and the sound of her car starting and driving away.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"New York?" Chad Danforth asked in shock, "As in the New York Knicks?"

Jerry Buss nodded, "Yeah Danforth, the Knicks, whaddaya say?"

"I say no, I'm a Lakers boy" Chad replied, shaking his head before looking down, "I love my teammates like brothers and my life is here, on the West Coast, sorry" he added sheepishly

Jerry nodded, "It's fine Danforth, I wasn't exactly expecting you to say yes, especially with your personal problems" he said in a sympathetic voice.

"Yeah..." Chad replied sadly, "Personal problems. Speaking of, I need to go, I'm meeting up with a Bolton and a few friends later" he said standing up and offering his hand out, which Jerry shook out of mannerism.

"I'll be seeing you around Danforth"

"Bye Buss!" he said, taking off out of the door and towards the elevator that would take him to the ground floor.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Jason Cross smiled at his coffee cup as he sat outside Starbucks, waiting patiently for his long time best friends. His almost jet black hair messed up and blowing in the wind slightly, his brownish green eyes scanning the surrounding area for his mates. Suddenly he spotted a guy walking towards him wearing a huge grin. The man was light skinned, had blonde hair and wore guy's beach hat in the lightest shade of grey. His grey and blue striped t-shirt matching his blue jeans and grey tennis shoes. It probably was the only guy who cared so much about his looks who wasn't gay or bisexual, Ryan Evans.

"Jason Cross!" he cried running over in a dramatic way. Jason laughed aloud and stood to give him a friendly, and completely manly, hug.

"Ryan, I saw you a week ago, why so dramatic?" This time it was Ryan's turn to laugh,

"I hang around too much with Sharpay" he explained, before they both burst out laughing again.

The two men heard a chuckle from behind them, "I'm married to Sharpay, but I don't act dramatic." The two guys turned around to be greeted by a tall, African-American man. His hair in an army buzz cut style and his wife beater showing off his toned arms.

"Baylor" they both said and rolled their eyes, before grinning in a similar way to Zeke.

"Wassup guys?" he asked pulling a chair out and sitting down, the other two following in his lead,

Ryan smiled, "I'm having a good time choreographing the local theatre, young people have so much talent" he said, sighing dreamily.

Jason stifled a laugh and turned to Zeke, "He's kinda right there though, I'm the coach of a high school basketball team, for crying out loud" he said laughing heartily, "What about you Chef?" he asked nudging Zeke.

"I just got back from the hospital, Shar is freaking out, she's so stressed. But I love my job and my life as a whole" he concluded smiling.

"Why did you just get back from the hospital and why's Shar stressed?" Jason asked curiously

Zeke sighed, "Sam fell down the stairs and lost conscious, he's currently in the hospital, he's better now but Gabs is stressed beyond words, which is stressing Shar" he explained to a shocked Jason.

"Oh my god" he finally said.

"Oh my god what?" a familiar said from behind them.

The trio turned around to see a grinning Troy and Chad looking down at them.

Ryan gulped, "Oh my god, my dog ate my new shoes" he said pathetically

"Uh-huh" Chad mused before chuckling and grabbing two chairs for him and Troy to join them, "What are you guys really talking about?" he asked

"Our lives, how's yours Chad, Troy?" Zeke asked

"Mine's good. Me and the missus are trying for a baby" Chad said smiling bashfully as all the guys congratulated him.

"Yeah, my life's fine" Troy said simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Ryan nodded, "Still with Alicia?" he asked, generally curious

"Yeah, we're doing good" he said nodding

"Plan on popping the question soon?" he asked, and thankfully Troy didn't notice the glares he received from the other three guys.

"Maybe" he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Just maybe"

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Alicia" the high pitched voice cried. The owner being a woman named Chelsea, five foot one and a half, twenty two, artificial brunette, naturally a red-head and brown eyes. Her freckles covered by tons of concealer and foundation, and her tan obviously sprayed and fake.

Alicia looked towards the sound of the voice and saw her high school best friend smiling at her and beckoning her over.

"Chelsea" she squealed back and made her way over. The two women air kissed eachother on both cheeks before making their way to the place where they had planned their lunch.

"So how's your husband?" Chelsea asked as they took their seats at one of the booths.

"He's not my husband. Yet" Alicia corrected

"Whatever, how is he?"

"He's been acting distracted lately, y'know ever since his accident"

Chelsea nodded, "Give him time" she said nodding, "He's a guy, and guys need time. He'll be fine soon" Alicia's best friend comforted before taking a forkful of salad into her mouth before chewing slowly.

"I hope so, I really do hope so," she said sadly looking down at her own uneaten green salad.

Chelsea nodded and continued eating her food.

"Maybe he's nervous?" Chelsea offered a few minutes later. Alicia looked confused for a moment.

"About what?"

"Y'know, about taking the next step." Chelsea said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Alicia asked picking her fork up to start eating.

"Maybe he's planning a proposal or something" Chelsea answered simply, watching as Alicia's eyes grew two times its normal size, before the returned to its usual condition.

"Again, I hope that's why" she sighed.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Hey Ali Baby, I'm home" Troy called as he entered his Los Angeles pad, dropping his keys in the bowl on the table nearby as he followed the voice that called back out to him.

"Babe, I'm in the kitchen" Alicia called back.

Troy entered the kitchen to be greeted by the mouth-watering aroma of his girlfriends Italian cooking, being of Italian descent, her Italian food was delectable.

"Mmm, smells good Ali." He said before laughing and starting to sing, "Hey good lookin', watcha got cookin'? How about cookin' somethin' up for meeee" he sang, walking up behind his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his nose into the crook between her neck and shoulder.

"Spinach and mushroom ravioli with a nice glass of white wine. Sound good?" she asked, stirring the pot of pasta.

"Sound's fantastic Baby" he said pressing a kiss to her right cheek before unwrapping her from his embrace and walking over to her side before nudging her shoulder with his own, "It looks and smells fantastic too" he said smiling at his partner.

Ten minutes later Alicia and Troy were sitting outside on the patio table, eating their evening meal with satisfying smiles on their faces.

"So it sounded, smelt and looked fantastic, I can now add feeling and tasting fantastic to that list too" Troy said, taking another forkful. Alicia smiled,

"It was my Aunt Lillian's recipe, she e-mailed it to me yesterday, and I thought I'd try it" she said shrugging her shoulders, "I'm glad you like it Troy."

Troy smiled, "Hey Ali? Do you wanna go for a picnic tomorrow? At the park?" he asked taking another forkful as his girlfriend did the same, nodding at the same time.

"I'd enjoy that, lunch?" Alicia asked

"Yeah, I'm cooking the food, or buying it, or whatever" he said shaking his head, an action which caused his girlfriend to laugh.

"I love you Troy"

"Love you too Ali" he said back, grinning widely, "I really do."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, LOOONG TIME! Thanks to all of y'all who reviewed! Please keep on reviewing, I love waking up every morning to see new reviews, even if you read it a few weeks after its been updated, please review and recommend. Oh yeah! Please go check out "Girl Of Hope"'s profile page and PM her about her new HSM fic, plus shout out to BabyV120 for correcting my grammatical error! xxx<strong>

**-Amy**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5: See You Again**

"**S**amuel! Be careful!" Gabriella screeched as she watched her son run out of the hospital on that certain warm and sunny day, a Tuesday. It had been two days since the incident and the twenty-three year old brunette was willing to forget what had happened.

"Momma, I'm fine" the boy said, smiling gleefully at his worried looking mother who stood still at the sight of her little boy running.

"Sammy, Baby, you need to be careful, okay? I don't want you getting hurt again!" Gabriella said walking up to her shaggy haired son who merely nodded at his mother's response.

"Yes Momma"

"Good boy, you up for ice cream with Sharpay or do you just wanna go home with Momma?" Gabriella asked looking into her sons mesmerizing blue eyes.

"Umm..." the boy said, putting his index finger of his right hand on his chin whilst staring up into the cloudless sky adorably, "Ice cream with Aunt Shar, but are you gonna come Momma?" he asked, both of his arms by his side now.

"No, sorry Baby, Momma needs to go into work today for a meeting." She replied sadly, before crouching down to become level with her son, "But I _promise_ to you that I'll take you out for ice cream later on this week, okay Sam?" she asked.

"I guess" he said shuffling from one foot to another looking down before looking back up to become eye to eye with Gabriella, "When am I going to meet Aunt Shar?" Samuel asked, his face slowly brightening up.

Gabriella giggled and stood up slowly, straightening out her cream full length skirt with a slit down the side that went up to her lower thigh showing off her slender left leg as the rest of the skirt flowed beautifully. She pulled her purple case-covered iPhone out of her brown fringe bag and dialled an all too familiar number. Two rings later, the women wanted answered.

"Hey girl, what's up?" Sharpay's voice rang through,

Gabriella smiled at the familiar voice, "Y'know you said that if Samuel wants, you'll take him out for ice cream today, well, he wants. You don't mind do you?"

"Nope, not at all, anything for my beloved godson, I'll pick him up from your place in half an hour, okay?"

Gabriella nodded, before realizing that Sharpay couldn't see her, "Okay, thank you Shar, and I love you."

"Love ya too Babe!" Sharpay replied before hanging up.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Okay Sammy, what flavour do you want?" Sharpay asked, looking down at the blue eyed, honey coloured hair with streaks, five year old boy.

"Chocolate, it's my favourite" Samuel said, his eyes gleaming like the ocean.

"Like your dad" Sharpay mumbled, and turned to the girl who stood behind the counter in the ice cream parlour, "One classic chocolate and one classic vanilla please, both in a cup" she specified. The young girl, who most probably was only in her late teens, nodded and got to work scooping the ice cream.

"So... Samuel, you glad to be outta hospital?" Sharpay asked, crouching down to his size.

"Yeah, I guess. Momma's really scared though" he said, his blue eyes wide showing an emotion which Sharpay couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Smiling sadly, she brushed his hair away from over his eyes and ruffled the rest of his hair, causing the hair she brushed away to fall back on top of his eyes.

"That's what Momma's do; they get scared when something happens to their kids." Sharpay explained, standing up to pay for their ice creams which stood on the counter waiting to be eaten, "C'mon, let's find somewhere to sit," she beckoned the young boy and turned around to head to the small booth in the corner of the shop.

"Auntie Shar?" Samuel questioned a minute after the two had take a seat at their booth and were now devouring their ice creams, "Do you think Momma's gonna have a baby soon?" he asked curiously.

Sharpay looked up from her ice cream and looked at Samuel with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Samuel, your Momm..." Sharpay started before she was cut off by a voice that was neither hers no her godsons.

"Sharpay?" A male voice questioned from a few centimetres away from the booth. Sharpay looked up from her ice cream and looked to the side, and there stood, five feet ten inches tall, looking down at her with blue eyes, Troy Bolton.

"Troy?" she squeaked, clearing her throat she started again, "Troy! Long time no see! How are you?" she said, now delighted to see her old friend, former BMOC of East High School.

"I'm great!" he exclaimed, "How've you been?" he asked, his eyes shining.

"Fabulous, as always" Sharpay giggled, and in the excitement of the moment, she said, "Why don't you join us?" she said happily, regretting what she had said the moment the words had left her mouth.

Troy's eyebrows creased in confusion, "Us?" he questioned, then he looked down and spotted the little boy who had been watching and listening to his conversation with the blonde. The boys blue eyes locked on Troy's before Troy spoke, "Hey Buddy, I didn't see you there. Mind if I join?" he asked, his love for children showing through his charming smile.

"No, you can sit next to me if you want" the boy said, scooting further into the booth towards the wall, Sharpay's eyes widening at the action.

"Thanks Man, I'm Troy Bolton" he said sitting down next to Samuel and placing his own cup of classic chocolate ice cream in a cup on the table in front of him.

"My name is Samuel James, and this," he said gesturing over to a nervous looking Sharpay "Is my godmomma Sharpay," He stated proudly.

Troy grinned, "Awesome man, she's one of my best friends," Troy shared, equally proudly before grinning in the same way the five year old boy was, "How old are you Samuel?" he asked,

"I just turned five, what about you?" Samuel questioned curiously,

Troy chuckled, "Much older than you for sure. I'm twenty four," he answered.

Samuel stared at him for a moment, his eyes scrunched up, "You're old" he stated,

"I don't like to think so, but I'm definitely not getting any younger" he laughed, "You okay Shar?" he asked turning to the blonde.

Sharpay moved her head from side to side as if shaking herself out of a trance of some sort.

"Yeah, I'm fine, we should get home Sam, your Momma will be waiting" she said getting up and throwing her half full ice cream cup in the nearby dustbin and gesturing for Samuel to get up and join her.

"But... I'm not done yet!" he complained in an adorable fashion.

"I know Sweetie, and I'm sorry, but your Momma will be waiting for you. You can eat it on the way home," Sharpay explained in a firm yet sweet voice.

Samuel looked down at his ice cream, contemplating what his godmother had said, before reluctantly nodding and politely asking Troy to move.

"Umm... So I guess I should get going aswell. Alicia will probably be waiting for me at home. I dropped her off at home when we came back from our picnic to come get ice cream. She didn't want to come, something about 'watching her weight.'" Troy laughed before moving forward to hug Sharpay, "I hope we see eachother again soon Shar."

Sharpay nodded, "Me too Bolton, me too," she replied smiling, "Sammy, say your goodbye to Troy."

Samuel moved towards Troy slightly, and bit his bottom lip, "It was nice meeting you Troy."

"You too Little Man" Troy answered, ruffling Samuel's honey coloured locks, and with that Troy Bolton turned on his heels and strode out of the ice cream parlour.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"ARE YOU INSANE?" The man's voice rang through the designer two floor house, as he shook his head at his wife of two years.

Chucking her tan arms in the air, the blonde replied, "WHAT WAS I MEANT TO SAY ZEKE? 'Oh hi Troy! It was nice seeing you, but if you don't mind, fuck off please?'" she screamed sarcastically back.

"I DON'T KNOW SHARPAY, BUT YOU CERTAINLY WEREN'T MEANT TO INVITE HIM TO SIT WITH YOU!" Zeke exclaimed.

Sharpay sighed in frustration, "I know, I feel so stupid! God, days like this I really _am_ a dumb blonde," she mumbled sadly.

"Aaaw, Babe, you're not stupid, and you're most definitely _not _a dumb blonde." He said but commenting a few minutes later regarding his previous comment, "Well you _are _blonde, but certainly not dumb."

"I feel really bad..." Sharpay murmured, walking towards Zeke and into his comforting arms.

"It's okay Sharpay, everyone makes mistakes every now and then, your human, it's natural" he comforted her, holding her close to his chest.

"Mmm... I guess. Zeke? Do you have any of those deliciously, luscious, mouth watering, rich, triple chocolate cookies that you baked for Sam yesterday left?" she asked, staring up at him with her big, light brown eyes.

"Yeah, we do." He said laughing, "They're in the cookie tin."

"Thanks Babe" she said patting his chest and turning to walk towards the kitchen, followed by the sound of her moaning out of the delight of having the delectable cookie in her mouth.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yup, it's been LONG! Not THAT long, but still long. Belated Happy Mothers Day to any mother who might be reading... ya never know. SO HYPED, Lakers are in Round 2 off the Playoffs against OKC Thunder! C'MON LAKERS! Yeah... So enjoy this chapter... bet y'all didn't expect Sharpay and Sam to bump into Troy, eh? LOL! So... Do me a favor and click that button at the bottom of the page that reads, "Review"<strong>

**-Amy J**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6: See Through Your Facade

"Hey Mark!" Gabriella exclaimed as she strolled happily into the sitting of her twenty five year old boyfriend's house. Mark David looked up from the magazine he had been reading and smiled. Mark was a good looking guy, he had medium brown hair which fell an inch below his ear lobe, very attractive green eyes, and always had this sexy, slight bit of stubble, that was barely noticeable. His skin was tan, somewhat on the darker side, which suited his dark hair perfectly. And the fact that he worked in a gym made him as fit as a fiddle.

"Hey..." he said in a low voice, "C'mere."

"Uh... Okay, what's up with you today?" Gabriella giggled, oblivious to the erection his jeans were attempting to hide, and the lustful look in his eyes.

"Nothing, I just missed you, so much." Mark replied, gesturing for Gabriella to sit on his lap. She did so, and just as she sat, his lips immediately attached themselves to her neck.

"M-M-Mark... What are you doing?" She asked, stuttering and shaking slightly as he sucked on her "sweet spot."

"I've been thinking about you all day Babe... About your hair, you eyes, your oh-so-perfect lips, her smooth skin, your toned stomach, your legs and the way they wrap around me whilst I thrust into you and your screaming my name." Mark whispered into her ear and within seconds her lips were on his, her legs straddling his.

Call it fast, but this was a usual occurrence for both Mark and Gabriella. She'd walk in, oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend was ever so horny, he'd stare at her breasts and speak in a low voice, she'd then ask him what was wrong and he'd be a guy and answer by complementing her body parts in a sexual manner, and within seconds they'd be in the middle of heated foreplay.

Gabriella's hands ran through his hair at the same time as Mark's hiked up her loose white vest top.

"Maaark..." she moaned as she felt him draw lines along her spine, causing her to shiver involuntarily.

And then, rather ironically, Gabriella's phone rang.

"Noooo..." Mark cried childishly from place, his cool, and usually composed guy image shedding slowly, but that didn't stop Gabriella from standing up to retrieve her iPhone.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"What's wrong Sharpay?" Gabriella asked, as she walked into her best friend's apartment, fifteen minutes after her cell phone had rung, disturbing her "make out" session with her boyfriend.

But the sight she saw when she entered Sharpay Cassandra Baylor's bedroom, was one that had her extremely confused, and worried.

The blonde was sitting in the middle of the queen sized bed, her tan, sweatpants clad, legs crossed whilst her hoodie covered head was hung in shame. The usually bubbly, optimistic and nicely bitchy, famous designer blonde, Sharpay Baylor was gone, and in her place was an embarrassed, pessimistic, melancholic and ashamed young girl.

"Shar, what's up?" Gabriella asked, her curiosity obvious, "Did something happen with Zeke?" was her third question.

"No," Sharpay sighed, "Brie, when I took Sam out for ice cream yesterday, I bumped into..." she trailer off, looking down at her un-manicured fingernails.

"You bumped into..." Gabriella encouraged,

"Troy Bolton."

And that was enough to silence both twenty four year olds. Gabriella Montez stood by the doorway, shocked. Her brunette locks tied in a ponytail, revealing her stunned face. Her usual strong, feisty and independent self slowly falling to reveal a shaken, scared and worried young girl.

"You saw Troy?" Gabriella asked after a few moments of silence had passed.

Sharpay licked her lips before beginning to speak, "And invited him to sit with us."

"Oh my gosh... Oh no... This isn't good!" Gabriella exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Gabriella..." Sharpay started,

"No Sharpay, I'm okay, I'm good, and I'm strong." Gabriella said nodding,

"Brie, I can see through your facade, you're not okay... I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have invited him to sit with us. It's an unwritten rule, don't be friendly with your best friend's ex-boyfriend." Sharpay said back, almost in tears.

Gabriella took in a deep breath, "Is that it?" She asked, not a trace of emotion in her voice, Sharpay nodded. "Okay... Then if you don't mind, I have someone to see."

Ten minutes later, the brunette found herself sitting on a park bench humming softly to herself while looking out at the children running around. It had always been her dream to have the white picket fence life, kids running around, and the perfect husband. She had even once confronted her mom on this matter.

"_Mom?" A fifteen year old Gabriella Montez asked her mother._

"_Yeah Sweetie?" Maria Montez answered, stirring the tomato soup she was cooking at the time for her teenage daughter and herself._

"_When I grow up, I want quite a few kids, like, not an excessive amount like sixteen, or even nine! I want around three to six..." Gabriella said, taking a seat at the island table in the middle of the kitchen. _

"_That sounds nice... But, do you really want to be pregnant three to six times, and give birth three to six times?" Maria questioned, chuckling to herself lightly._

"_It'll all be worth it. I want three to six kids, a good job, a big house and an amazing husband..." The teenager carried on with a sigh._

_Maria left the soup to boil and turned around to face her naturally beautiful daughter, "Define 'amazing'" She challenged._

_Gabriella smiled a daydream-like smile, "One that helps with the kids, does house work when necessary... Or even when unnecessary. A husband that can cook and who can make me smile and laugh when I'm sad. Oh! And one who can give great massages... Y'know for when I'm stressed or something like that."_

"_So basically the opposite of your father?" Maria joked, causing laughter to erupt within the kitchen._

"_I'm telling dad you said that!" Gabriella joked right back._

That day, she had indeed told her father what her mother had said, resulting in a playful fight between Gregory Montez and Maria Montez _nee _Lamana. Gabriella smiled at the thought of the memory. She remembered it so vividly it was surreal.

"Gabs?" A voice asked quietly causing Gabriella to look up from where she was previously looking at the ground.

"You came..." She whispered, barely heard by the five foot nine male, but he had gotten used to her quiet voice, he knew what she had said.

"Of course I came Gabs... You needed me, and not in a sexual way, just to talk, and I'm always up for talking..." The man said with a small chuckle.

Gabriella Montez managed a small smile to grace her lips before she motioned for the blonde man to sit.

Tony James grinned slightly before taking a seat next to her.

"So..." Tony started, his greyish-green eyes, which he had inherited from his father, instead of his mother's blue eyes, shining. "How's Mister Samuel James doin'?" He asked, attempting to strike up a conversation about his "Favourite Little Guy Ever."

Gabriella smiled slightly, as she did every time her son was brought up in a conversation.

"He's good. He turned five a few days ago. He's growing so fast, soon he's going to be a teenager and I'm going to be the helpless single mom..." she laughed slightly, but this laugh wasn't one that would erupt when something was amusing, it was the sarcastic, melancholic one, the sad one.

Tony nodded, "I'm sorry Gabs. I know I'm his..." He started before he was cut off by Gabriella.

"It's not your fault. We were young and didn't know how to deal with the stress of a child. At least you're visiting and playing with him, being some form of a father-like figure to him..." She sighed before continuing, "I just wish I could be stronger, emotionally. Y'know, not be so easy to breakdown into tears. I used to be this strong, independent young women, now I'm currently a qualified high school teacher on stress leave. I never used to be so easy to breakdown, in the past few months everything's just got to me and also the hardship of being a single mom. I don't know some single mom's can do it."

"Gabriella, I really am sorry..." Tony apologised again,

"No it's not your fault, really. You're doing the best you can and I guess that's all I can ask from you." Gabriella said, no smiling with appreciation.

"But remember... If you need me, call me, no matter where you are, no matter how far..." The blonde sang brightly.

"I will... Thank you Tony, oh! By the way, come round this Friday, you, me and Sam can have dinner together, y'know, bond"

"I'd love that, now Miss Montez, lovely, gorgeous, oh so talented Miss Montez..." Tony started before he heard Gabriella cough, "Suck up" causing him to fake glare at her before continuing, "Will you do the honours of... Pushing me on the swing?" He asked, as if asking her to light the Olympic torch.

"I'd be honoured to," The twenty four year old brunette replied.

And with that, they stood up and made their way towards their destination.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: SORRY for the long period of time it took me to update. Early last week, my friend Mom was diagnosed with leukemia, she's really upset, so as her friend I felt a duty to comfort her. Anyways...<strong> **Efron and Collins "Broke-Up," I don't even think they were properly "Together" in the first place. (I like using speech marks.) Hope y'all like this chapter. So without further ado... PLEASE REVIEW! (LOL, that rhymed, and I did it without realizing.)**

**-Amy J**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7: Lost**

Hate. The Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the word "Hate" being,

_Hate: (_Heɪt_) Noun/Verb_

_Noun: An intense dislike_

_Verb: Feeling intense dislike _

In other words, hate is a strong feeling or sense of detest felt towards something or someone. Example: _Gabriella Montez felt an intense hate towards her ex-lover, Troy Bolton._ Or another example, in past tense being, _Gabriella Montez hated Troy Bolton. _And one last example in present tense, _Gabriella Montez hates Troy Bolton._

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

"Keep telling myself that it's not worth it,

I already know I don't deserve it,

But if it's from you I don't mind hurting,

This is my perfect nightmare,

So when will I wake up and scream,

No way, No way,

No way, No way,

No way, No way,

No way,

But if it's from you I don't mind hurting,

This is my perfect nightmare,

Perfect nightmare…" The brunette's voice rang through the room as she danced the emotion-filled dance, her body moving in perfect rhythm. Her hips moving with passion as she let the song over take her body as she jumped, rotated and body popped. Her earphones plugged in securely as the song carried on playing, her green iPod Shuffle, used particularly for when she danced, clipped onto the strap of her purple sports bra.

Her size 4, hip hop dance shoe covered feet moving from left to right, then back to left again, off the ground for a second before they landed. The luscious dark chocolate locks tied back with a black scrunchie with white polka dots into a messy bun, while a few strands came loose.

Gabriella Montez was lost.

Lost in the music playing through her earphones. Lost in the perfectly choreographed dance. Lost in her thoughts in general.

"But if it's from you I don't mind hurting,

This is my perfect nightmare,

Perfect nightmare." She finished, taking out her earphones and allowing them to hang around her sweaty neck. Panting slightly, she turned around, away from the mirror and walked towards the changing room, wanting to get home to her son and mother as soon as possible.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

"Mamá! Samuel! I'm ba-ack!" Gabriella called into Maria Montez's, what seemed like, empty house. Apparently not.

"We're out back Ella" Maria responded.

Seconds later Gabriella found herself smiling at the sight of her mother pushing her overly ecstatic song on the kid swing her father had had installed for his first grandson.

"Hi Mamá," She said to her mother, before crouching to come face-to-face with her son, who had stopped swinging now. "Hola baby boy, ¿ha sido bueno para la abuela? Espero que tengas Samuel James, o tendría que decir fuera, y no me gusta decir de mi querido hijo."

The five year old, blue eyed, honey haired boy stared at his young mother as if she was down-right crazy.

"Huh?" Samuel said cutely and confused, causing both Maria and her daughter to laugh.

"Did you behave for Grandma, Hun?" Gabriella re-asked, shortening the question.

"Mm-hm" Said the boy.

"You sure?" His mother asked back,

"He was an angel, Ella, like you." Maria said crouching down like her daughter, tucking a strand of hair behind Gabriella's ear before placing a kiss on both Gabriella and Samuel's foreheads.

After a few minutes of silence, Samuel spoke, "I really was good for Grandma, Momma, I promise."

Gabriella smiled at the young, innocent boy in front of her, "I'm sure you were, Baby, I'm sure you were."

...

Gregory Montez loved his family, no doubt about it. But even he knew it wasn't perfect. His only daughter had been a teen mom, and then came his aunt dying of leukemia before his cousin had died of manslaughter.

But it was moments like those that exited his mind when he walked into his home in Los Angeles to be met with warm and welcoming smell of white chocolate and raspberry muffins, and the sound of his wife's, daughter's and grandson's laughter wafting through the house. It was home. It was the sound, smell and sight he had missed for the past two weeks, and he was glad to be back.

"Maria! Gabriella! Samuel!" His voice boomed, "I'm home!"

"Grandpa!" A young voice rang. Gregory recognized that voice, of course he did, it was the voice of his beloved grandson, the one in which he had played many father-figures to.

"Hey Buddy! How's it goin'?" He asked as the little boy ran into his arms and giggle aloud as they span around.

"I went to the hospital and I went for ice cream with Auntie Shar and I played on the swings with Grandma AND I learnt how to say "my name is Samuel" in German!" Samuel exclaimed with a huge grin gracing his features.

Greg raised his eyebrows and looked into his grandson's cerulean irises, "Oh yeah, so, how do you say what your name is in German?"  
>Samuel grinned, before clearing his throat and saying load and clear, Mein name ist Samuel."<p>

"That's great Bud!" Gregory praised, "Now, where's your Mother and your Grandmother?"

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

"Come on Buddy! Channel your inner Uncle Chad!" Chad Danforth urged, "It's just a few words. Just go "Spread the love, peace and Chadiness!""

The dark skinned man sat back in "his" lazyboy chair, his legs split slightly whilst his godson sat perched on his right knee. The mid-afternoon sun streaming through the window.

"But my Momma said not to be like Uncle Chad…" Samuel admitted,

"Mommy was just joking; it's okay to be like me. So come on, say it."

Taking a deep breath Samuel said what he had been encouraged to say, "Spread the love, peace and Chadiness... Did I say that right?" He asked, scratching his head in confusion, not knowing what the word "Chadiness" meant, honestly, no one did, except Chad.

And that's when Gabriella decided it was time to enter his house.

"Samuel James, what did you just say?" she said feigning anger.

"Uncle Chad made me say it!" He tattle-taled, causing Chad to frown behind him.

Gabriella smiled at her son, "I know Hun, but come on, say bye to Uncle Chad, we have to go home now."

Chad groaned at the comment, "Why doesn't he stay Gab, give you a night off or something? We have some of his clothes here and Tay's coming home in under half an hour."

"I don't know Ch-"

"Please Gab, if not for you, do it for him, or me, please?"

Gabriella sighed and ran the fingers on her right hand though her hair, "Whatever, okay, he can stay. Just make sure he brushes his teeth before he falls asleep, and don't keep him awake too long." She smiled and walked over to the duo and leaned down to kiss her son's cheek, "Love you Baby, and behave for Uncle Chad and Auntie Tay, okay?"

Nodding, Samuel replied his mother's farewell before she exited the Danforth's house.

An hour later Gabriella found herself at Walmart, browsing through the cereals section. Smiling, Gabriella picked up a box of Cookie Crisp, scanning the box. Just looking at the box made her smile, the same smile her son smiled whenever he saw that exact box on the kitchen island.

Suddenly she felt herself stumble forward a little. Turning around, she was met by the sight of grey eyes staring at her in shock.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry! I was just looking at the cereal selection and I wasn't looking at where I was going and I bumped into you... I am so sorry!" The raven haired women apologized.

Gabriella giggled slightly, "It's okay, honestly. I was so engrossed in this box of cereal for my son, I should've been more careful."

The lady smiled and held out her left right hand, "Alicia Lucking" she said.

"Gabriella Montez" Gabriella answered shaking Alicia's hand.

"That's a pretty name..." Alicia commented,

"Thank you," A blushing Gabriella said gratefully.

Alicia smiled, the lady in front of her was shy and modest, she liked it. "You said you had a son, what's his name?"

"Samuel, Samuel James. He's the light in my life, he means a lot to me. And I'm really sorry it cut this short, but I honestly have to go, sorry." Gabriella apologised.

"Oh no, it's okay, but please, can we exchange numbers?" Alicia asked,

"I'd love to," Gabriella smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wasssaaabbbi? I was reading this over, and then I compared it to my coursework, and I just realized how rubbish I write when I write on Fanfiction, that sucks, right? Annnnyywwaaayyy, oh yeah! You all HAVE to go read "My Worst Enemy" it's beyond epic! PS: For those people who didn't quite get my Twitter name, it's AmyJohnson1993, very creative, I know(!) Anyways, enough rambling, y'all go review with the new AWESOME reviewing system that makes everyone's lives a million times easier. I don't own the song, Walmart, Cookie Crisp or HSM.<strong>

**-Amy J**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8: Prep**

"I'd love to meet your son. He seems like a really sweet kid. Don't worry, my boyfriend and I eat anything, take out would be lovely. Of course you can have some other friends around; I'd be honoured to meet them. Okay, bye Sweetie." The raven head beauty finished with a wide smile etched across her face, her whitened teeth shining in contrast to her bright red lips.

Behind the femme noire aux cheveux, stood her boyfriend, staring at her with curiosity etched across his perfect features.

"Babe," His voice rang loud and clear, "Who was that? And why are you smiling like a... Like a... Like a person who smiles." He finished, his sentence obviously not making sense to him or his girlfriend.

"Can't a girl smile?" she questioned turning around to face him, her dark and perfectly plucked eyebrows raised.

Troy rolled his eyes a stepped closer towards his lover, "Yes, a girl can smile. But they shouldn't be smiling like that after they've come off the phone with another woman, especially since the girl has been moody all day until now!" Troy exclaimed.

Alicia shrugged, "So what? I was moody, I spoke to another woman, who by the way invited us both to dinner tonight, and now I'm smiling." She said, her smile widening as her boyfriend started making exaggerated movements with his arms.

"That is the problem, right there. You came off the phone with another WOMAN and are smiling like crazy. Are you switching sides?" Troy asked her, his expression changing suddenly to shock.

Alicia stared at him in mystification, "Switching sides?"

"Y'know, are you... Bi?" He whispered, as if it was sinful to say such a word.

"Bi?" The female of the conversation questioned,

"Don't make me say it!" The male begged before giving in hopelessly, "Bisexual" he whispered, "Or, ya know lesbian."

Alicia's grey eyes widened as she took in what her boyfriend had asked her, before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter, "Oh g-god! So f-f-fuckin f-funny. B-b-babe, you're crazy." She commented before carrying on in her pursuit to calm down, "No, I'm not" she said more seriously, before leading him over the to the black leather loveseat in their bedroom.

"I met the woman at the supermarket the other day, we exchanged numbers and we've been texting and calling, and we decided to meet again. Plus, I really wanna meet her son, he looks and sounds so cute!"

"Really?" Troy asked, his cerulean eyes looking directly into her grey ones, "What's his name?"

"Samuel James, and Troy, you just have to meet him. He's just the sweetest thing!" Alicia gushed as Troy looked at her with interest.

"I met a Samuel James the other day, great kid, he was telling about how old I was compared to his five year old self" he said with a laugh.

"Really? The Samuel I know is five too... It'd be kinda weird if it was the same one, but nice aswell, I guess."

"I guess," Troy sighed, "What time do we have to be there by?"

"Six...ish, so we have two hours and a half to get read, she lives around five minutes from us in that posh apartment block."

Troy nodded before standing up to get ready.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

"Do I look fat in this?" the black haired Italian asked her boyfriend.

"No."

"I think I look fat," she argued

"Well, I don't." The male disagreed

"As a matter of fact, I know I look fat." Alicia replied

Troy rolled his eyes and sat on the edge of their bed, "Baby, firstly, you really don't look fat, you look very skinny, secondly, if you claim that you knew you looked "fat" why ask me in the first place?"

The female sighed and looked in the full length mirror again. The royal blue dress had a sweetheart neckline and the straps joined to form a halter neck. The clothing item pinched in at the waist and had a pleated design until her knees, the royal blue contrasting against the neon pink 3 inch peep toe heels and matching bangles encrusted with silver studs.

"You look beautiful." Troy's whisper stated.

"Thank you," Alicia whispered back; turning around to face him, "you scrub up well," she joked.

Troy chuckled and put a fake cocky look on his face, "Well, I try," he said, popping his white polo collar upwards in a street manner.

Alicia giggled, "Okay, I think I'm ready."

Troy nodded and stood up, taking his dainty hand in his and leading her out of the house.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

Homely would be an understatement if you used that specific word to describe Gabriella Montez's huge apartment. In the sitting room the fake fire was switched on, the lights had been dimmed and the guest were all playing with the precious blue eyed five year old who ran from adult to adult, smiling and saying phrases which caused the entire room to burst into fits of laughter.

On the three seater sofa sat, in the following order, Taylor Danforth, Chad Danforth, and the hostess herself, Gabriella Montez. Sitting on the right, on the loveseat sat Sharpay Evans-Baylor and Zeke Baylor and opposite the loved up couple, on the armchair, sat Tony James, his sweater zipped and his hood up as he gave playful glares to the five year old who had been repeatedly slapping his shin.

"Okay, Sammy, Baby, stop it now." Gabriella warned carefully, stifling her laugh as Tony winced when her son gave a particularly hard slap.

Samuel laughed; "Sorry..." he managed in between his giggles, which caused him to be automatically forgiven and lifted into the air by Tony, before being put to rest on his lap.

This, itself, caused "Auntie Shar" to snort, "You, Samuel J, are one lucky chicken to be forgiven so easily... cos you're just so darn adorable!" she cooed.

"I second that!" Taylor said, lifting her arm.

"Me too," her husband added, causing a gasp to erupt from Taylor's vocal cords,

"YOU can second that, I already did!" she complained

"Fine then!" Chad replied childishly, "I third it! Ha!"

Zeke rolled his eyes at the behaviour of the married couple, as did Gabriella, Tony and Sharpay.

"So... what's for dinner Gabs?" Zeke asked, going into chef mode,

"I'm just going to order Chinese, there's ten of us, including my baby, and that'd be way to many people to cook for, therefore take out is my next best choice," The brunette replied with a small nod, "Is that okay with you Mister Chef?" she teased.

Zeke let out a fake gasp, "I'll have you know, I do, in fact, eat take out Miss Is That Okay With You Mister Chef!"

And they all burst out laughing, Samuel included, fortunately, none of them knew what fate was about to be bestowed upon them.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

"SHIT!" Alicia screamed as they pulled up in the parking lot of the modern apartment building.

The honey coloured hair guy's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he looked to his left to see his girlfriend panicking like a crazy woman.

"What?" he mumbled.

"I promised my boss I'd email her the new summer collection dress designs by six thirty, it's a major necessity because she has to do a presentation on them by seven. Shit, I haven't sent the designs Troy!" Alicia replied, throwing her arms up in the air for added effect.

Troy sighed, "Honey, it's okay, we can just drive back. In this traffic, which is actually quite bad tonight, it'll take maybe under forty five minutes?"

"No, not okay. I don't want to tell her I'll be late. How about, you go in, and I can drive back home and do my stuff before coming back here."

"Baaaabbbeee!" Troy whined, "I don't know these people, can't I just come with you?"

"No, Troy, it's rude. Please Babe, do this for me!" she asked, putting on a pout and a puppy dog face.

Troy scrunched his eyes before letting a out a frustrated groan and hitting the steering wheel.

"Goddamnit, fine." And with that, Los Angeles Lakers superstar, number fourteen, Troy Bolton tossed the car keys at his girlfriend, leant over to give her a parting kiss and left the car.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh my god, 20 days since I updated, that's good. I only did the ending now cos I wanted to upload the chapter today, so sorry it's short. Good luck Zac at the TCA's, you're nominated for 7 categories, you're bound to win one. Uh... Oh yeah... Who's seen Ted, my older brother took me to see it, it's epic!<strong>

**"FUCK YOU THUNDER,  
>YOU CAN SUCK MY DICK"<strong>

**My mom and little sister heard me, my big bro and my little bro singing it and she freaked out, telling us we were a bad influence...**

**Anywhooo R&R and go read LOVe by Angkeats aswell, it's awesome.**

**-Amy J**


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9: The Wall

Fate can be defined as destiny, doom, fortune, chance. If a person was to think the glass was half empty, it is most likely that doom would be one of the words they would use to characterize fate. On the other hand, if a person was to say the glass was half full, fortune would be one of the words to portray fate. It all comes to the fact that some people are more positive than others.

Gabriella Montez was a positive person. As was her offspring and her parents.

Their belief was that whatever happens has some good in it.

On Christmas, when Maria Montez's cookies had burnt, they had said they were fattening anyway, and all they'd be useful for was weight gain. And when one of Gregory Montez's articles hadn't been published, they had thought about what negative things the people might've said against it.

All in all, the Montez's believed that whatever happens happens for a reason.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .._

Silence overcame the living room as they heard the sound of the buzzer buzz,

"That must be my guests," Gabriella noted getting up and smoothing down her attire. Her black flowing top reached the top of her matching black super skinny jeans. The halter neck-line of her top embroided with silver, gold and grey sequins matching her smoky eyes and shiny bangles, and natural sexiness radiating of her body unknowingly.

"I wanna get it!" Samuel cried from his seat on his uncle's lap, "Please."

And using the infamous pout he inherited from his paternal side, his wish was granted.

As fast as his little legs would carry him, he ran towards the front door just as the individual on the other side knocked once, twice, thrice.

Standing on the wooden stool his mother had bought him, he lifted his hand towards the doorknob and opened the already unlocked door to reveal...

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

Troy Bolton looked up from the area of ground where his eyes had been previously situated upon hearing his name.

"Troy!" a young voice called.

"Hey!" he replied, equally shocked, "How are you, Man?" crouching down to the younger boy's level.

But just as the young boy was about to reply another voice was heard, an older voice, a very familiar voice.

"Samuel, who is it?" a dark skinned man asked, approaching the door. His wild and typically untamed hair left naturally bouncy, his eye's glowing as he spoke to the younger boy, not yet realizing the gaping twenty four year old male who stood at the entrance.

"This is my friend Troy," Samuel stated little index finger pointing at the basketball player.

And that was when Chad Danforth finally realized that his best friend was standing in the doorway.

"Danforth?"

"Bolton?"

It was like something out of a romantic drama. When the two lovers are looking into eachother's eyes for the first time in ages in utter shock and disbelief. But like reality, in the movies, something was always bound to go wrong, and Chad and Troy weren't lovers.

"What are you doing here?" both Lakers players asked at the same time.

The stood in silence for a minute, both parties wondering why the other was there, but none realizing that the five year old boy had gone to fetch his mother and her friends.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

"Momma, you're guest is here!" Came the sound of the young boy's voice, four minutes after he had run out of the room to open the door.

"Really? Well, we should go give them a big welcome with everyone, shouldn't we?" Gabriella asked, standing and picking up her light son, resting him on her right hip.

Her friends following her lead they walked out of the sitting room and into the foyer to be greeted with the sight of Chad Danforth talking animatedly with the guest about the Lakers.

"Chad?" she called, surprising both males.

Time stood still as the tousled hair man turned around to face the utterly shocked and confused brunette female standing in front of his very own friends, now looking very pale.

And as blue met brown, it seemed as if, as cliché as it sounded, the whole world had frozen.

The normally extremely chatty, bright and bubbly Sharpay was silent.

The dark-skinned brainiac, Dr. Mc'Kessie, was silent.

The green eyed, teasing yet charming, Mr. Tony James was silent.

The usually calm, collected and friendly Chef Baylor was silent.

Even the young five year old boy was silent, as he stared from his guest to his mother, too afraid to speak.

Everyone was silent as they felt the tension in the room increase and Gabriella's face go pale. No one spoke a word, for they knew that once someone let one sound escape their vocal cords, the invisible wall between Troy and Gabriella would tumble and crash to the ground, releasing the evils that kept the wall cemented together.

It was Troy who spoke first, but he immediately regretted it after seeing the look on his ex-lover's face.

"Gabriella?"

And that was it. The wall was gone, broken into a billion tiny pieces.

It seemed to have snapped something in Gabriella, for the colour returned to her pale face, her eyes darkened it anger and her hands clenched into fists.

"What are you doing here?" she said, attempting to keep her voice levelled, but failing miserably.

And before he could answer the buzzer buzzed again.

Gabriella looked from the intercom to Troy and then back.

And then it clicked, she had unknowingly invited her ex-boyfriend to dinner. Fuck.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

Alicia stood at the main entrance of the very modern apartment building, her pink heels tapping impatiently on the ground as she waited for the door to be answered.

After explaining her situation to her boss, they had come to the resolution that the meeting was to be postponed until the next day.

"H-h-hello?" A female voice came from the intercom, it sounded far from calm, but the Italian lady couldn't quite put her finger on the emotion that oozed out of the voice.

"Um, hi! It's Alicia," she replied, secretly hoping that she had in fact got the right apartment number, "Is this Gabriella Montez?"

Alicia heard the woman on the other side take a deep breath in before answering a simple, cheerful greeting, a complete change from how she had first answered the door.

"Oh Alicia! Come in, please!"

And with that the door was opened, the elevator was taken to the third floor, door number seven was knocked on, and the door was opened to reveal cheerful young boy.

But behind the boy stood seven mixed-emotional adults. Some of their eyes filled with shock, others, anger, others sadness, the hostess however had a mix of all three in her eyes.

Alicia walked into the apartment, keeping her eyes on her boyfriend, who was looking down at his leather shoes.

"Hey," she said softly, pecking his cheeking with her pink lips which, not surprisingly, matched the bright pink of her shoes.

And then she turned to face the brunette hostess who was looking at her emotionless.

"Hi, Gabriella!" Alicia said cheerfully, ignoring the other adults in the room when Gabriella flashed her award-winning smile before moving forward to hug her.

But before they even reached eachother, another female voice spoke harshly.

"Ahem, who," Sharpay asked looking the designer up and down, "are you?"

Alicia, oblivious to the harshness directed towards her, cheerfully smiled, "Alicia Lucking, I'm Troy's girlfriend."

Sharpay scoffed, "Jeez, nice choice, Troy," she commented sarcastically.

Everyone remained quiet as Alicia glared at Sharpay, "Who are you, may I ask?"

"Sharpay Evans, one of Gabriella and Troy's BEST friends, not so pleased to meet you!"

"Listen here you hor- Wait, did you say Gabriella AND Troy's best friend?"

The other seven in the room stood horrified as Alicia eyed both Troy and Gabriella.

"Jesus, Troy, have you told this girl anything?" Taylor asked, finally vocalising her thoughts.

Silence overtook the room as Alicia stood, staring at her boyfriend.

"Troy?"

But Troy wasn't looking at her, rather, he was looking at the brunette opposite him who was staring downwards at the little boy who sat naively on the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm not even going to try and write my excuses, it's simple, as the fact is, I'm a bitch.<strong>  
><strong>This chapter was supposed to be waaayyy longer, but it isnt due to writers block, college life, and this just seemed like the right place to stop.<strong>

**I'm so so sorry, and yeah. Everyone go read "You and Me," "LOVe," "Shades Of Bolton," and I can't remember the rest... Oh yeah! "Reborn..."**

**So yeah, and due to my bad memory, I've already forgotten the name of a story I read two days ago, it's a round six chapters long, and basically, in the beginning Gabriella attempts suicide and Troy finds her in the bathtub... and I cant remember no more.**

**Eh... The Bitch Of Updating Late, Amy.**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10: WHO'S YA DADDY?**

"This is lovely Gabs, which shop did you get it from?" Zeke asked, his mouth filled with half chewed crab Rangoon.

"The shop down the road, y'know, the red and yellow one..." Tony answered for her, his own food half eaten in his mouth, viewable to everyone on the table.

Sharpay groaned slightly, "Oh Tone, that's horrible," she said, scrunching her nose up in a disgusted manner before allowing the awaiting silence to overcome the table.

"So," Alicia began, "Are you single, Gab?" she asked a minute later, general curiosity etched across her perfect, model-like face.

The comment itself made everyone's head rise, all of their eyes fixated upon the brunette who sat near her son, feeding him small kid-sized forkfuls of chow mein.

Gabriella's gaze rose and scanned across the eyes of her guest before landing on the bright blue pair, the bright blue pair that she could remember staring into ten years prior to the dinner they currently sat at.

Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she quietly whispered her answer, "Umm, no, no I'm not."

"Wh-" Troy started before being interrupted by his ever-so-lovely partner.

"So, is he your son's father?"

In the movies, there is sometimes a moment of silence in which nothing is heard but the sound of the wind. Not even the sound of breathing or slight movement, just wind. And at that precise moment, that silence is what had overcome the Montez dining room.

No one's facial expression was the same except Gabriella and Tony's, which were looks of nervousness and embarrassment. Troy's facial expression, however, was one of hardness and rage and... Upset.

Gabriella cleared her throat slightly, "Um, no, Sam is another man's child. But my boyfriend, Mark, is a good man to him."

And in the moment Troy couldn't help himself, "Do you know who his father is?"

His voice was cold, and it was a tone of voice Gabriella had only heard once in a blue moon, "Yes." She answered him simply. No other words needed to be said as Alicia looked weirdly at her boyfriend for a moment, before allowing her concentration to wonder back to the brunette, mother of one.

"Would you mind telling us, I mean, you don't have to, but it'd be great to know..." Alicia wondered nudging Troy as if to get him to agree with her.

Did he want to know though? Heck yeah he did.

"Yeah, great to know. I mean, it's all part of building a friendship." He echoed.

They had her cornered, guilting her into releasing the truth she had hidden for five years.

"I'd rather not say."

"C'mon Gabriella..." Troy urged, "It's not like it's anyone in the room!" he said, his voice rising.

This triggered something in Chad, "Drop it Bolton, she said she doesn't want you to know." And with that said, he stood up from his seat and walked over to his friend, "I think it's time for you to leave," he hissed at his best friend.

Troy was confused, why the hell was Chad angry? He hadn't done anything. But silently he stood, gesturing for his girlfriend to follow and walked towards the exit of the room, before turning his head in Gabriella's direction, "Thanks for the dinner Gabi, it was lovely. G'night everyone," he said looking at everyone else who had been sitting and eating quietly, and then looking at the little boy next to his ex-girlfriend, "Bye Buddy, I'll see you soon... Hopefully."

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Chad, what was that?!" Taylor asked as the couple walked into the bungalow they shared.

Chad shook his head, almost disappointed in himself, "He was pissing me off Tay."

"Hun..."

Chad shook his head, cutting off his wife's sentence. "No Tay, I love him like my own flesh and blood, but that girl's like my sisters as well, if he hadn't just left her for a reason like that, then maybe he'd know who the father was! He shouldn't have left her Tay, it was his fault."

Sitting down on a nearby wooden chair in the sitting room, he continued, "They were meant to be together forever, out of all of us, they were the ones that we voted would last the longest, and then they broke up, because of one stupid reason!"

Taylor shook her head, her eyes starting to fill with tears at the memories Chad had brought up.

"Chad, Troy had his reasons, I'm just glad he didn't find out who Sam's dad is, that would've been a disaster."

"World War Three would've broken out!" Chad chuckled, a slight smile grazing his lips.

"But Tony would've tried to stand up for Brie, he's a good guy all in all, stupid, but a good guy."

Grabbing his wife by her hips, Chad pulled Taylor into his lap, "I'm a good guy too?"

Taylor nodded, "Yeah, you are."

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,

And eyes and ears and mouth and nose,

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!" Gabriella finishes before tackling her standing son to the play mat she sat on, on her knees, tickling him mercilessly as his toddler-laugh filled the almost silent room. In the corner of the room, a green eyed man sat in an armchair, eyeing the toddler with curiosity.

"You should tell him?" he murmured, loud enough for the only female in the room to hear.

"Tell who what?" she asked, her tickling coming to a halt as she sat her only child on her lap.

"Troy, about Samuel's father."

"You know I can't do that Tony, for reasons that you should understand and respect."

Tony sighed and stood up, making his way towards the mother-son duo, "It'll be lifting a huge weigh off your shoulders, you're a school teacher who's on stress leave, the sooner you get this off your shoulders, and the sooner you can get back to your life."

"I can't tell him." She said, "He's going to be so damn disappointed in me Tone. I'm a people pleaser, okay? I don't like letting people down."

Tony growled, "If that's what you think Gabs, then I hate to break it to you, you let him down ages ago!"

And due to the sudden increase of loudness, the small boy in Gabriella's arms looked up at his mother, before getting up and running to his room.

"Thank you for scaring my son..."

"You can tell him Gabs, have faith in yourself, tell him I'm Sam's father." And with that Tony James, left the room, shouting a "See ya later Sammy!" to the young boy in his room.

* * *

><p><strong>LONG, BUT IMPORTANT, AN:<strong>

**A) I haven't updated in nearly 2 months, and I'm sorry. My friend's Mom died little over a month ago and yah.**

**B) I love you all, I find it shameful that the last chapter I posted I was telling y'all to read LOVe... And now my girl Ang is on chapter 11 of I Love You More... :/**

**C) I LOVE ALL OF YOU READING FOR STICKING WITH MEH! I also love Zac Efron... But y'know.**

**D) AND, BIGGEST NEWS! SAM'S FATHER IS FUCKIN FINALLY REVEALED.**

**E) Quick shout-out to **Hudgens no1 fan **for her review, wish you had an account so I could PM you my thanks, I'll try and tone it down... If ya know what I mean.**

**Last but not least, F) Next update should come before New Years, so belated HAPPY THANKSGIVING, and an early MERRY CHRISTMAS.**

**-A**

**ps: I'm thinking of changing my penname, and suggestions.**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11: SHE SHOULD'VE**

"Why?"

"Troy..."

"Why didn't you tell me she had a kid, Chad?" The blue eyes man whispered, his head resting on the palm of his right hand as his left toyed with the straw that came with his drink.

Chad sighed, it was after a horrendous practice that their coach had suggested Chad talk to Troy, "Buddy, I don't think you'd wanna know."

Troy sat up straight, his eyes filled with confusion with a hint of pain on the side, "I just found out my ex-girlfriend has a kid... And what confuses me is that she didn't tell me. We were friends after we broke up, right?" Chad nodded, "Well, then, why did she tell everyone, but me?"

Chad stood up and motioned to his best friend to follow his lead. He directed his companion towards the direction in which they came from, back to the black Audi in which they had arrived in. The two men climbed in, the blue-eyed man riding shotgun whilst his "buddy" drove the car speedily through the roads of Los Angeles, the windows down, allowing the cool spring breeze to hit Troy in the face and race through the fibres of his hair.

"Why are we here?" Troy asked, the confusion still in his eyes, as he looked up at the familiar building.

"You wanted answers, answers which I can't provide, but she can." Chad said, motioning upwards, "Go for it."

Troy shook his head and looked down towards his worn-out, off-white sneakers, "But, she hates me. I was an ass and a half to her the other day. I wouldn't be surprised if she bitch-slapped me across the face." He laughed with no humour whatsoever.

"Listen, Troy," Chad said, causing his childhood best friend to turn to him, "You don't have to go, but if you want answers on this specific topic, Gabriella's your girl."

The sandy haired man remained silent for a moment before turning on his heel and sprinting towards the main door of the apartment complex.

"Atta boy." Chad whispered t himself.

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It was nearly five in the afternoon. Who the heck had come to visit her? There she sat, in her bedroom, her lesson plans spread out on the bed. Had being a teacher been Gabriella's ideal job? No. She wanted to be a lawyer. Did she ever regret not becoming a lawyer? Once or twice, but in the year she had been a qualified teacher, she had grown to love the children she taught more than she ever thought she would. Being a mother, was it hard for her to balance being a parent and a teacher? Not when her son was in the class she taught.

"Momma! Door!" Her five year old son shouted from his place in the sitting room, where he had been quietly watching Handy Manny and colouring in a picture of bookshelf.

"Hold on, Baby!" Gabriella said, walking towards the intercom and pressing the button, allowing the person downstairs in. She should've asked who was at the door, but her mind was trying to wrap around the fact that someone was visiting her.

And then someone knocked.

And she looked through the peephole, and there stood Troy Bolton, in all his perfect glory, dressed in a grey, white and emerald green plaid shirt, black jeans and a pair of scruffy sneakers, nervously scratching the back of his neck and biting his lip in an unknowingly enticing manner.

She should've left him outside, but she was too intrigued by the fact that Troy Bolton was nervously waiting outside her door the same way he did when he came to pick her up for prom.

"Troy?" she questioned his identity as she slowly opened the door. Of course she knew it was him, but nothing but his name would escape her lips.

"Gabi..." he breathed, "Umm... Hi?"

"Hey," Gabriella whispered back, "What... Umm... Why are you here?"

"Right, the thing is, we," he said motioning between the two of them, "Need to talk."

Gabriella raised her eyebrows, "We do?"

Troy nodded slowly; not wanting to seem too eager at the fact that she was accepting him a little as the brunette opened the door wider, indicating he should enter.

"Coffee?" she offered, going into host mode.

"No, thank you," he replied fidgeting with the silver band on the index finger of his left hand. From the corner of his eye, he could see his ex-girlfriend staring at it with curiosity.

Troy cleared his throat slightly, "Chad gave it to me." He said, looking at her face of amusement, "It's a promise ring of some kind," he continued as he followed her into the kitchen, and leaning against the island in the middle of the room he carried on, "He gave it to me freshman year or college, UCLA were pushing us so damn hard, so during winter break, after Christmas, we went to New York, and came across these rings. The rest is history." He finished looking up at the beautiful girl turned sexy woman parallel to him. She really did look good, five years and one child had not changed that, she was, if possible, more exquisite than when he had last seen her half a decade prior to that moment.

"What's the promise?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"You said it was a promise ring..."

Troy nodded in understanding, "It's simple. We'll always be brothers, no matter what."

And then they heard the sound of little feet coming towards them, "Momma!"

The only man in the room chuckled as a little boy zoomed past him, with a piece of paper in his tiny hands, towards the brown haired woman, "I finished my picture! See!" he said, thrusting the picture into his mother's hands, awaiting her approval.

"It's lovely Samuel!" Gabriella cooed, ruffling her son's locks, "Sammy, say "hi" to Troy."

And just how the moon takes turns with the sun, a sudden shyness overcame the young boy who stared up at the man opposite his "momma."

"Hi Troy..." he said quietly, nonetheless, a small shy smile played on his lips as he clutched onto the long flowing skirt his mother wore.

Troy grinned widely. He was definitely Gabriella's son, and Troy was certain that he had inherited his sudden shyness from his mother.

And in a soft voice he replied the greeting, creating an almost domino effect as Samuel grinned like Troy, making Gabriella grin as well.

The young boy tugged on his mothers skirt specifying she should bend down to hear his words, "Why is he here?" he whispered loudly, loud enough for Troy to here.

Troy roared out a laugh, "I'm here to talk to your mom," he whispered loudly himself as he watched the child blush slightly.

"Speaking of talking..." Gabriella said, "I kinda have somewhere to be in, about, two hours. So, start talking, Bolton."

Troy nodded and watched as Gabriella told her son to go to his room and play, before ushering him to the sitting room.

"Why aren't you pissed at me? For the summer after senior year? For ignoring you the past five years? For _the night I came for dinner_?" he asked confused.

"Do want me to be?" Gabriella asked, one of her perfect eyebrows raised.

Troy shook his head, "Of course not! But heck! If I were you I'd be pissed! I _am _pissed!"

Now both her eyebrows rose, and Troy leaned back into the armchair she had sat him on, "C'mon, Gabi, I'm pissed because during the previous five years, I didn't contact you. Not once. You were my best friend; you should know that that had always come before being my girlfriend. We said we'd stay friends... What happened?"

"I fell pregnant, that's what happened."

He looked at her silently. She should've stayed silent.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm a little under a month late... (Not in that sense!) I said I'd update before New Years... And... <strong>

**ILY, for staying with me. I'll try, but no promises, to get the next chapter up before I go for Spring Break, because, I'm going on holiday to Australia then! Yay! Sooo... Normal points, Zac, Michael and Miles in AWOD! OMG! Fangirlin'! Can't wait to see them three in action... Umm... yeah. SB and AAP trailer... Both, epic. **

**And, that's it!**

**Dont forget to check out my tumblr page: amythewriter dot tumblr dot com.**

**xxx -AJ**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12: PERFECT CHILD**

"I fell pregnant, that's what happened."

He looked at her silently. She should've stayed silent.

"You should've told me Gabriella. Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you _trust _me enough? Was it 'cause I broke up with you? Did I break your heart? Is that why you didn't tell me? Because our relationship _really did_ ruin our friendship?"

Gabriella shook her head, and her index finger on her left hand went to search for the hair elastic on her right wrist, before she messily did her hair up in a pony tail. "It wasn't like that..." she said, earning herself a raised eyebrow, "Of course I trusted you, and our broken relationship had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I didn't tell you. Why didn't tell you? Because I was scared. I didn't want a baby, I was eighteen and pregnant. Pregnant with a whole new being, and, in all honesty, I thought I was going to end up on an MTV show. It took one look at that pregnancy test for everything to fall apart."

He chuckled lightly at the MTV part; she had always been over dramatic about things like that. And though, they were serious issues, even when they had been nothing but youngens, he was always one to lighten the situation.

"Can I ask you something?" he inquired after a moment or three of silence,

Gabriella wanted to retort with the classic "you just did" line, but decided against, this was no time for that, "Sure. Go for it."

"Who is his father? I mean, it isn't, as you confirmed, your current boyfriend."

Gabriella's eyebrows rose slightly as she took in what he said, "What do you mean by "as you confirmed?"

"Gabriella, you're son is five, meaning you had him at nineteen, implying the fact that you fell pregnant at eighteen. I'm not that bad a math, and I'm not stupid..."

The brunette cleared her throat slightly, before whispering a name, "T..." She whispered the rest of it quietly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that."

"Tony. The guy you met the other day. The one who Sharpay told it was disgusting to chew with his mouth open. That guy."

It was a moment in which the word "awkward" would have been the understatement of the century, but it was in that moment that Troy found himself reminiscing.

"Do you remember when we were juniors and we went to the park with the big ass lake, and you fell in?" he randomly questioned.

"_And then they all live fucking happily ever after..." Seventeen year old Troy Bolton exclaimed sarcastically, throwing his arms in the air whilst he, his girlfriend and his best friends made their way down the small hill that lead to a huge lake._

"_Not all the time!" Sharpay reminded him, "Like, in... My Sister's Keeper, the older sister has leukaemia, and then she dies because her boyfriend dies! Have a heart!"_

_Troy's eyes went to the small brunette next to him, who awaited his reply, "I do have a heart," he said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "But it belongs to someone else... A very special someone," he finished, his eyes remaining on Gabriella throughout his very mini speech._

"_Oh gag me..." a voice came from Troy's right side. Chad._

"_I would do so happily if Zekey wasn't restraining me!" Sharpay retorted, glaring evilly at their bushy haired friend, who had his arms up in the air in surrender._

"_Sorry, sorry!"_

_A small giggle came from the bottom of the hill, and the two friends, plus Troy, Taylor and Zeke peered curiously towards the base where a petite teenager stood, in all her perfect glory, ripped skinny jeans, and her boyfriend's jersey, grinning up towards them, her gaze fixated upon a certain blue-eyed young man._

"_Come on!" she cried, beckoning them to join her, to which the boy who she was staring at ran down the hill and scooped her up in his muscular arms, nuzzling his nose into her neck,_

"_You got a head start... we were meant to have a race!" he murmured. She only giggled back, "That's cheating Montez. I'm a Jock, I don't like cheaters..."_

_Gabriella bit her lip in an almost erotic manner, "So what are you going to do about it, Wildcat?"_

_He grinned back playfully before running off towards the direction of the lake, and before Gabriella could comprehend what was happening, she was soaked to the core, from head to toe. _

"I did not fall in, you threw me in." Gabriella argued as she stared at the man in front of her. Of course she remembered that day, it was the day he had given her his class ring, and made a promise to replace that ring one day with one of a more significant kind. He didn't.

Troy scoffed, "Only because you cheated."

"I didn't cheat, I just ran whilst you were watching Chad and Shar!"

"Nonetheless, you got an unfair head start!"

Gabriella smiled, "Whatever Troy, maybe we should have a rematch someday."

Troy nodded in agreement, "Maybe."

They stayed in silence for a few minutes before the pitter patter of tiny feet filled the air,

"Momma..." came a whisper, "Can I come back now?" it was from the hallway near Troy's chair, and as the voice spoke, the tall man turned his face to face the boy.

He was a simply gorgeous child. Ever so slightly wavy locks of dark blonde and honey coloured hair, with obviously natural highlights. Troy knew Gabriella would never allow her son to do anything artificial to his hair; she'd shave his head if he tried.

The young boys blue eyes shone like bright aquamarines and his mouth was formed into a small smile Troy knew he had inherited from his mother.

He was small for his age, no taller than three foot three, his body seemed to have lost all of the baby weight and showed a healthy build.

"Hey buddy," Gabriella whispered to her son, and as Troy watched the little boy clamber into his mother's lap, a sense of envy overcame him, an eerie, unusual sense of envy.

Feeling confused and irritated, Troy stood abruptly, "Umm, I need to go and do... something."

"Oh, okay..." Gabriella replied, confused.

And with that, he left.

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"A kid, she has kid, and he's a fucking great kid. You know, we could've had a kid, not you and me, cos that'd be gay, not that I have a problem with homos, but you know, me and Gabriella. If she hadn't cheated on me..."

Chad sat there and watched as his best friend took another swig of vodka, straight from the bottle, listening carefully to his drunken ramblings about his ex.

"It sucks that she cheated, I mean, it may not technically be cheating, but it's still cheating. We were on a break! Not a break up! There's a difference! A break is when you're still _technically _together, just giving each other more than little bit of space, to experiment, but NOT SLEEP with other people. A break up is when you can screw all the guys, or girls, depending on your preference, I need to stop with the references to homos... anyhow, you can screw anyone you want! And then she decides to play with my and sleep with me, and believe me when I say we did a whole lot more that just sleeping in that bed... and on that couch, and it that shower, but whatever! And after we hooked up, I thought we were back together! But noooo, little miss perfect runs away from me, and THEN I see her five year later. The fucking best thing is, SHE HAS KID! A PERFECT FIVE YEAR OLD SON! Samuel James."

After another swig, emptying the liquor container, Troy put the glass bottle down on the table, and looked up at his friend with solemn eyes,

"He really is perfect, Chad," He mumbled,

"I know man, I know."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's short, it's late, and no I'm not referring to a menstrual cycle. I'm sorry, I really am! Please forgive and forget and, it doesn't start with an F, but review?<strong>

**PS: Angkeats, you make me look so bad... updating every few days, I hate/love you.**


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